Auger Bit Heaven
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A bunch of carpenter's bits in a homemade box, at first glance not much to think about. If you look closer at them, you'll find no two are alike. The bits come in a range of sizes, with differences in the way the twist is formed and with a variety of cutting heads. Yet for all their diversity, they were designed to accomplish a simple task—to bore a hole in a piece of wood. And for all their diversity, the bits in this box represent a tiny subset of the tools that have been produced for the task.
The bits seen here are of the common sizes used by a general-purpose worker. It's unlikely that any would have been used to bore holes in the timbers used to build a barn, frame a ship, or to tap a maple tree. The augers in the box range from 6 1/2 to 10 1/2 inches in length, mere babies compared to the ten-foot bits used to bore the timbers used on the gates for the locks of the Panama Canal.
Some of the bits have a single spiral while others have shanks which were flattened and twisted to form what is known as a double-twist bit. In either case, the function of the spiral was the same—to guide waste wood up the shank so that the bit would not have to be pulled from the hole and the chips cleared out to allow for further boring. None of the bits in the box feature the solid center stem popularized by the Irwin Auger Bit Company—not that the design is inherently less interesting—but because none happened to be on hand when the owner put the assemblage together.
Most treatments of the American auger bit begin with the 1809 patent of Connecticut resident Ezra L'Hommedieu who is said to have invented a double-twist auger in 1809. The idea is older; a British patent existed as early as 1770. Though documentation is scarce, the honor for the first manufacture of twist-type auger bits in North America likely goes to William Henry and John Henry Rauch of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, men who put a commercially viable product on the market in 1772. Job T. Pugh of Philadelphia is reported to have been making double twist bits in 1774 (he wasn't). There are several other early claimants, among them John Washburn of Kingston, Massachusetts, Thomas Snell of Ware, Massachusetts, and Thomas Garrett, a Chester County Pennsylvanian.
As interesting as comprehensive history of the United States auger bit industry from its earliest days might be, Auger Bit Heaven has not been created for that purpose. The site serves instead, as a venue to explore various aspects of auger bit manufacture that have caught the author's fancy. Those interested in the earliest origins of the American auger bit would do well to check out Joseph Hutchins' meticulously researched article:
"The American Screw Auger." The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association. Vol. 64, no. 3 (September 2011), p. 89-107.